The amendment, being offered by Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow, is essential in the effort to beat back the non-native Asian carp and other invasive species.

Ernst-Ulrich Franzen, writing for the paper’s editorial board, notes:

“So you don’t have to be blue or red or for that matter purple to believe that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state of Illinois need to do more to stop this invasive species from wreaking havoc in the Great Lakes basin, and that the Corps needs to move faster on a study. You just have to believe that the fish poses a real threat to the waterways around Lake Michigan.”

The paper continues:

“Completion of the study is essential to building a permanent barrier, so the study needs to be done as quickly as possible.”

It’s imperative that the entire federal senate delegation from the Great Lakes region get behind this amendment. The clock is ticking. Public officials have set a December 16 deadline to complete federal budget negotiations.